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Effect of honey supplementation into Tris Extender on Cryopreservation of Bull Spermatozoa

Yimer, N.*, Muhammad, N. , Sarsaifi, K. , Rosnina, Y., Wahid, H., Khumran, A.M. and Kaka, A.

Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 Serdang, Malaysia

Malaysian J. Anim. Sci. 2015 18(2): 47-54

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The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of using honey as a supplement into Tris extender in comparison with a commercial Bioxcell? extender on bull semen cryopreservation quality. Semen samples from four fertile bulls, which comprised of two Friesian Sahiwal, one Braford and one Kedah-Kelantan breeds, were collected using an electro-ejaculation method. Collected samples were freshly evaluated physically and microscopically before divided and diluted using four Tris-based extenders containing 0% (control), 2.5%, 5% and 10% honey, and a commercial Bioxcell? extender. The processed semen was equilibrated at 5?C for 3 h (chilling), packed into straws (0.25 ml), frozen and stored in a liquid nitrogen tank for 24 h before thawing and assessment of quality. Semen quality parameters used for evaluation and comparison after chilling and thawing included general and progressive motility (analyzed using a computer assisted semen analyzer), livability and sperm morphology (done using eosin-nigrosin staining technique). The experiment revealed that among all Tris-based extenders, improved post-cryopreservation semen quality was obtained from Tris+2.5% honey; comparable to Bioxcell? which was superior to all other extenders. Use of honey at concentrations of 5 and 10% however, were not suitable and showed significantly poor semen quality following cryopreservation. Therefore, Tris extender with 2.5% honey could be considered as a cheaper alternative to Bioxcell? as it could be prepared in the laboratory whenever needed.